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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2015)
Local teams spring into action SPORTS • 8A This group simply draws WEEKEND EDITION FRIDAY EXTRA • 1C FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015 142nd YEAR, No. 188 ONE DOLLAR ƨƝƙƛƝƞƭƤΎƪƝƬƭƪƦΎ Strip club sign causes a stir Suggestive, but Annie’s sign is protected as free speech By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Keiko Ziak unfolds a Yosegaki Hinomaru on a table in her home in Naselle, Wash. The Yosegaki Hinomaru are common flags covered in well-wishes by a Japanese soldier’s family and friends. The soldiers carried these flags with them into battle during World War II. The flags were taken by American soldiers as prizes after battles and brought back to the United States after the war. Rex and Keiko Ziak are working with others to try and return these Yosegaki Hinomaru back to families in Japan. Rex and Keiko Ziak spearhead effort to reunite WUHDVXUHGÀDJVZLWK-DSDQHVHZDUGHVFHQGDQWV By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian B efore sending their young men to serve in the military during World War II, Japanese IDPLOLHVSUHSDUHGVPDOOÀDJVVLJQHG by family members and friends for the soldiers. Each Japanese soldier carried at OHDVWRQHÀDJZLWKWKHPRQWRWKHEDW- WOH¿HOGV Once they were discovered by $PHULFDQ VROGLHUV WKH ÀDJV EH- came highly prized treasures of war and were brought back by the thou- sands as souvenirs, according to lo- cal historian and author Rex Ziak of Naselle, Wash. ³&DSWXULQJ D ÀDJ LV RQH RI WKH highest accomplishments on a battle- ¿HOG´=LDNVDLG³,W¶VKDUGZLUHGLQWR WKHLUKHDGVWKDWLI\RXJHWDÀDJLW¶V an amazing accomplishment.” Now 70 years later, many Amer- Submitted photo ican veterans and their families are realizing the souvenirs are actually In this photo, a Japanese soldier is seen with his family and two Yosegaki Hinomaru before the soldier personal items that belong to Japa- was sent off to fight in World War II. QHVHIDPLOLHV,QPRVWFDVHVWKHÀDJV represent the only surviving trace of the young men. RETURNING CEREMONY Individual efforts have been made OBON and the 41st Infantry Division are hosting a returning ceremony at the Barbey Center at by veterans in recent years to return the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria at 2 p.m. Monday. WKHÀDJVFDOOHG<RVHJDNL+LQRPDUX The ceremony is the first official transfer of battlefield souvenir flags from American veterans back See FLAGS, Page 10A St. Helens dock redo not on state funding list By PETER WONG Capital Bureau “We got a huge response,” Har- mon said. “And we did it again for Christmas and then for St. Paddy’s Day.” See STATUE, Page 7A See DOCK, Page 10A Pendleton VWDWXH¿JKW gets physical By PHIL WRIGHT EO Media Group E.J. HARRIS — EO Media Group Pamela Harmon and her husband, Tim Becker, have been decorating the bronze statue of Jackson Sundown on Main Street in Pendleton since Hal- loween. The couple are now petitioning the city to allow them to continue decorating the statue. the Nez Perce man who at the age of 53 won the Pendleton Round- Up in 1916. Harmon said she is a fourth-generation descendant of Sun- down’s, and she and her husband first decorated the statue last Halloween. See SIGN, Page 7A SALEM — Six transportation projects — but not a much-debated dock renovation that was a proxy in a wider debate over coal exports to Asia — will share $7 million in state money. The Oregon Transportation Com- mission voted 3-1 Thursday for the allocation of lottery-backed bonds under Connect Oregon, which funds projects other than highways and bridges. But the list omits the top-ranked project, which proposed $2 mil- lion for renovation of a World War II-era dock at Port Westward near Clatskanie. The Port of St. Helens proposed to match it with $3 million to develop it for use by ocean-going ships. “These are the kind of projects that are going to revitalize rural Or- egon,” said commission member Su- san Morgan, also a Douglas County commissioner, who was the lone dis- senter. “I think that to deny the people in Columbia County the opportuni- ty to do this – to add to the wealth and strengthen the social structure of their county – is a negative way to go.” The project ranked high last sum- mer, when the commission dropped proposed funding for it on a 3-2 vote. Then-Gov. John Kitzhaber removed the commission chairwoman, Cath- HULQH0DWHURI&RUYDOOLV¿YHPRQWKV later. A subsequent review by a panel ranked the project atop a list of 31 considered for almost $7 million re- maining in Connect Oregon money. to Japanese families. PENDLETON — A scuffle over decorations on Pendleton’s Jackson Sundown statue has led a couple to petition the City Council for its ap- proval to continue dressing up the bronze. So far 29 people, including the couple who started the petition, have signed their support. Pamela Harmon, 50, and her hus- band, Tim Becker, 39, live on the 100 block of Pendleton’s South Main Street above the bronze of Sundown, born Waaya-Tonah-Toesits-Kahn, A bawdy new sign for Annie’s Sa- loon is causing a stir, but the advertis- ing is legally protected free speech. The Astoria strip club’s sign depicts the silhouette of a long-haired woman bending over suggestively to resem- ble the shape of an ‘A.’ It replaces a softer image of a blond-haired woman lounging with her head resting on her arms. Linda Middleton, who owns An- nie’s, described the new red-white- and-black sign as a “cartoon-type ¿JXUH´ WKDW ZLOO EHWWHU LOOXPLQDWH WKH saloon. “It’s just a lady,” she said. “And she’s making an ‘A’ shape — like, you know, the letter ‘A’ — for Annie’s.” Middleton obtained a sign permit IURPWKHFLW\LQ-DQXDU\WKDWUHÀHFW- ed what is known as a “face change” to the old sign.